Text 198, 82 rader
Skriven 2004-07-29 10:22:50 av Adam Flinton (1:379/45)
    Kommentar till text 196 av Jeff Shultz (1:379/45)
Ärende: Re: Wax that board...
=============================
From: Adam Flinton <adam_NO_@_SPAM_softfab.com>

Jeff Shultz wrote:
> On Mon, 26 Jul 2004 21:08:44 -0400, John Beamish wrote:
>
>
>>VLCCs, I think.  (cf Noel Mostert's "Supership" -- been a _long_ time
>>since I read that.)
>>
>
>
> If we've lost 200 VLCC's in the last 20 years, the sea should be black
> with oil.... c'mon - that's a lot of ships!
>

supercarriers are any very large cargo vessel e.g. containers, bulk cargo (e.g.
ore, coal etc), oil etc.etc.

Here's one example (the derbyshire)

Note the sentence " In the 1980s about 17 ships like the Derbyshire were. being
lost each year."

http://www.nautical-heritage.org.uk/derbyshire.html

"The Derbyshire sank in September 1980 in the Pacific about 350 miles south
east of Japan. The sea is about 4200 metres (2ƒ« miles) deep at this point. 44
people died -.42 crew and the wives of two of the officers.

She was an enormous oil/bulk/ore carrier (0.B.0) and could carry about 160,000
tons of oil, iron ore, coal, grain or other bulk cargoes.

What makes the story so important is that she was, and still is, the biggest
British registered merchant ship ever to have been lost. 294 metres (1000ft)
long - almost three times the length of a football pitch. 44 metres (150ft)
wide - as wide as a six lane motorway - wider even than the Titanic. The ships
were so enormous that they built them in sections and then joined them
together. Her loaded draft was 18.5 metres (62 feet). She had one 30,400 hp
diesel engine driving a single propeller.

The Derbyshire was delivered in June 1976. She was the last of six sister ships
all of which were built by Swan Hunters.

In the 1980s about 17 ships like the Derbyshire were. being lost each year. The
figures for the last ten years (1993-2002) is 108 ships. The loss of The
Derbyshire was extraordinary because she .was only 4 years old; she was British
owned and manned by a competent and experienced Master and crew; she was built
by a British shipyard - Swan Hunters; she was fully classed Al by Lloyds
Register of Shipping; all her surveys and certificates were up to date.

On her final voyage she left Fos sur Mer, France on 23rd June 1980 for New
York. She. arrived on 5th July to take on fuel oil bunkers. She got to her
loading port - Sept Isles, Canada on 10th July and left on 11th July after
loading 157.447 tonnes of iron ore concentrates bound for Japan. It was raining
when she arrived in Sept Isles. This might have been significant because iron
ore can shift in a seaway if it is too damp, but It was clear that the moisture
content of the ore was within acceptable limits.

She sailed for Japan via Capetown where she took on stores. After leaving Cape
Town the charter party (the legal agreement under which the vessel had been
hired) required the ship to comply with recommendations from a weather routing
organisation called "Oceanroutes". It would advise on course and speed,
according to expected weather conditions, to minimise fuel consumption. The
ship sent messages to Oceanroutes every two days giving her position and speed.
On 3 Sep the Master increased the ship's speed to 12.5 knots to pass ahead of a
tropical depression which he had learnt about from a Japanese weather fax.
Oceanroutes confirmed the existence of the tropical depression and recommended
that the ship take a northerly course to clear it. On 5 Sep Oceanroutes told
the Master that his route was still valid and that the tropical depression
would reach storm intensity by the following day. On 6 Sep the ship reduced
speed to 10 knots as the tropical depression had apparently subsided. But
during the course of that day typhoon Orchid developed close to the tropical
depression. Some 20 years later Oceanroutes was criticized for not warning the
ship about Orchid.

The Derbyshire's last message was to her owners on 9th September 1980 it read.

"9 September 0930 GMT; Now hove to due to severe tropical storm; estimated time
of arrival Kawasaki 14th hopefully""

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